The county should support several hundred brown bears, say Magnus Orrebrant, chairman of the Swedish Carnivore Association, but the population is actually estimated at around 15, and between now and 15 October, hunters will be allowed to kill three of them.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cYou cannot call that wildlife management,\u201d says Orrebrant. \u201cIt is purely trophy hunting.\u201d<\/p> The issue of bear hunting has been thrown into sharp relief by the the news that Sweden has issued licences allowing hunters to take 486 this year out of a population estimated at just below 2,450, with another 50-100 that will be allowed to be killed to protect reindeer<\/a> herds in the north of the country in the spring calving season.<\/p> Conservationists say these quotas are part of the Swedish Government\u2019s goal of reducing bear numbers to around 1,400, the lowest figure that would still allow the species to remain in \u2018Favourable Conservation Status\u2019.<\/p> \u201cSweden is a huge country and should be able to support 5,000-6,000 bears,\u201d Orrebrant claims. Numbers peaked at around 3,300 in 2008 and have been steadily decreasing since then.<\/p> But Daniel Ligne, the country\u2019s national game manager (who works for the country\u2019s hunters\u2019 association \u2013\u00a0game management has been effectively delegated to hunters in Sweden since 1938), says it\u2019s necessary to reduce bear numbers because of the huge toll they take on livestock, and especially reindeer.<\/p> \u201cMore than 60,000 reindeer are killed by predators [every year], and about half of them are taken by bears, which specialise in taking calves,\u201d he explains.\u00a0<\/p> The actual quotas are decided by the seven counties where bear hunting is permitted with guidance supplied by\u00a0Sweden\u2019s Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, SEPA. Management of bears, and Sweden\u2019s other large carnivores, wolves and lynx, \u201cstrives for a balance between maintaining their favourable conservation status and ensuring that the keeping of domestic livestock is not made significantly more difficult,\u201d explains SEPA\u2019s Hanna Ek.<\/p> Bears are not a threat to humans in Sweden \u2013\u00a0in the past century, two people have died as a result of interactions with bears, both in hunting incidents, according to the carnivore campaigning group\u00a0Sweden\u2019s Big Five<\/a>.<\/p> According to Orrebrant, the real reason for the high quotas is because the country has become more politically conservative in recent years and right-wing politicians are more in favour of hunting. Hunting organisations, he adds, have gained power, and they are in favour of reducing bear and other predator numbers because of their impact on elk (or moose) and deer.<\/p> Sweden is already facing complaints to the European Commission about its quotas for wolves and lynx \u2013\u00a0 could its approach to brown bear management also come under the scrutiny of Brussels in the coming year?<\/p>![\"Eurasian](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/08\/Eurasian-brown-bear-female-with-young-cubs.jpeg\")
![\"Bear](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/08\/Bear-hunter-at-dawn.jpeg\")